Pink Champagne Buttercream

Made with a champagne reduction, our Pink Champagne Buttercream is creamy, silky, light and melts ethereally on the tongue while not being overly sweet. It’s the perfect buttercream frosting for special occasion cakes and cupcakes. And, it tastes just like it came from an upscale bakery! All-natural, egg and soy free with a dairy free variation.

A Special Buttercream for Valentine’s Day: Pink Champagne Buttercream

When it comes to special occasions, a spectacular cake is in order and it deserves a magnificent frosting such as our Pink Champagne Buttercream. It’s the perfect buttercream to frost cakes and cupcakes for birthdays, anniversaries, New Year’s Eve or St. Valentine’s Day.

This recipe for buttercream is based on our recipe for Best Ever American Buttercream, which uses an emulsion to create an exceptional American Buttercream without the usual gritty texture and is sweetened just right. The best part is that this buttercream is very impressive yet comes together in just 25 minutes!

Who doesn’t appreciate that?

In usual fashion, I am posting this buttercream as a separate component recipe but will be using it to frost an extraordinary cake to be featured soon here on the blog. I am truly looking forward to posting this one and I know you are just going to love it!

For those who have never tasted a Champagne Buttercream, I would explain it as tasting similar to a cherry or grape flavored buttercream with the distinct and pleasing tang that could only come from champagne or sparkling wine.

For this particular recipe, I used Santa Margherita Prosecco (we always have some on hand) and it did not disappoint. The flavor is truly divine. In fact, I could not stop eating it right from the spoon!

To tint buttercreams, I prefer using all-natural, organic and kosher food coloring pastes by ChefMaster®. I purchase mine from The Baker’s Kitchen as they are a great resource with no minimum orders on these food coloring pastes. (Other stores require you to purchase a box of 12 units…in each color.)

The best and least messy way to work with food coloring pastes is to dip toothpicks into the small jar and scoop up enough to tint your frosting. Then, I just swirl the toothpicks into the buttercream and turn it while lifting up so that most of the food color ends up in the recipe. Easy peasy. Of course, as with many great kitchen tips, I learned this tip years ago from award-winning cookbook author, Rose Levy Beranbaum.

What makes our Pink Champagne Buttercream wicked good?

Not only does this buttercream whip together in record time, it is an impressive one. It does not have a gritty texture like so many other American Style Buttercreams. This is due to creating a sugar slurry with boiling champagne to dissolve the sugar and an emulsion with the addition of the fats. Furthermore, is not cloyingly sweet since only half the amount of sugar is used when compared with standard American Buttercream recipes.

The flavor profile is fabulous due to the champagne or sparkling wine reduction and is silky smooth with a pleasing mouth feel that comes as close to European buttercreams as an American Buttercream can. Now that is definitely wicked good!

Whip up a batch of our Pink Champagne Buttercream or our Best Ever American Buttercream and find out for yourself how these American buttercreams truly compare to European buttercreams. You will be impressed and your mind will be blown. I promise.

Pink Champagne Buttercream

Description

Made with a champagne reduction, our Pink Champagne Buttercream is creamy, silky, light and melts ethereally on the tongue while not being overly sweet. It’s the perfect buttercream frosting for special occasion cakes and cupcakes. And, it tastes just like it came from an upscale bakery! All-natural, egg and soy free with a dairy free variation.

Directions

Using an electric stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, place confectioners’ sugar into work bowl. Meanwhile, in a small heavy saucepan over medium-high heat, bring champagne to a boil. Boil until reduced by half to ½ cup, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

Immediately and very carefully pour boiling champagne over confectioners’ sugar in a steady stream with mixer on low speed (stir). Increase mixer speed to medium and beat, scraping down sides of bowl with rubber spatula, until sugar dissolves, mixture is smooth and cooled to room temperature, about 4 minutes. Add almond extract, if using, and mix until well blended.

Add butter and shortening and beat on low (stir), scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, until creamy and almost fully incorporated, about 2 minutes. Gradually increase mixer speed to medium and continue beating until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary with rubber spatula, about 10 minutes. (Beating buttercream on low and medium speeds will prevent it from incorporating too much air causing air bubbles.) Tint buttercream with pink food coloring paste.

Yield: Makes about 4½ cups; enough to fill and frost a 9-inch two layer cake, or 8-inch three layer cake, or 18 to 24 cupcakes—depending on amount used to simply ice cupcakes with a knife or icing spatula (in the traditional manner) or pipe elaborate swirls, or decorate with other piping details.

Recipe Notes

Tips:

If not using immediately, keep bowl covered tightly to keep buttercream from drying before frosting cake or cupcakes.

Buttercream can be refrigerated for up to 1 week in an airtight container. Storing longer than this is not recommended due to the dairy content. Before using, bring to room temperature before beating smooth again.

If using the buttercream to pipe details, be sure to use chilled hands when handling pastry bag as warm hands can easily melt the buttercream.

For a thicker buttercream, reduce (cook down) champagne to ⅓ cup (versus ½ cup). This will create a less billowy and light buttercream allowing for nice piping details.

This buttercream will last for up to 3 days at room temperature when on a frosted cake, or cupcakes, covered.

Cook Time above simply means Active Time for preparing buttercream.

All-Natural Variations:

To Make Dairy and Soy Free Champagne Buttercream: Omit butter and use natural butter-flavored palm shortening by Spectrum Organics® by measuring 192 grams or 1 cup to replace the butter. Add a few pinches of salt to water and sugar mixture before adding extracts to compensate for the salt in the omitted salted butter.

To Make Non-Alcoholic Pink Champagne Buttercream: Simply substitute Sparkling White Grape Juice, such as by St. Julian Winery, for the champagne or sparkling wine and continue with recipe as directed. (Many wineries offer sparkling grape juice, so check with wineries in your area.)

Alternatively, substitute Sparkling Apple Cider, such as by Martinelli’s. I highly recommend Martinelli’s because their juice is 100% pure juice from fresh apples (not from concentrate) and is certified organic. Use their store locator tool on their site to find a store near you. Also, check with your local Whole Foods Market and specialty markets in your area for Martinelli’s sparkling juices.

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About Stacy

Stacy Bryce is a recipe developer and member of the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals). Her passion is developing original conventional baking recipes as well as special diet recipes to include dairy-free, gluten-free and grain-free. You can follow Stacy at Pinterest.

{GASP} It is beautiful!!! That really is one special buttercream that you developed! I love that it isn’t cloyingly sweet. That is a pet peeve of mine and my husband’s! The color is just perfect. I am not generally a fan of food coloring but I should really give those a try – anything with your stamp of approval is fine by me! Pinned!Lindsey @ American Heritage Cooking recently posted…Healthy Chipotle Chorizo Chicken Tacos

Hi there, Julie! Thank you for writing. To answer your question, and as I mentioned in the article of this post, the taste (at least to me) is very similar to cherry or grape with a subtle tang. Since the champagne or sparkling wine is boiled down, some of the alcohol boils off. However, I have an even better idea for you and will update the recipe with this option. How about using Welch’s Sparkling Grape Juice Cocktail when making this buttercream for children? The link is to Amazon.com to show you what the product looks like, but most grocery stores should carry it. It would also be fun to serve at the party as a mock champagne for the little ones and they will love all the tiny bubbles! 🙂 Just simply substitute the sparkling grape juice for the champagne and you will be fine. I hope that I have answered your question thoroughly and completely. Meanwhile, thanks again for writing and have a grand time at the bash!

What a beautifully coloured buttercream! Love the champagne in there – it makes it so decadent and gives it a “celebration of life” feeling since, well, we should always celebrate life! I’m going to use that as my excuse to smother this buttercream on everything 🙂 haha!Jessica @ Jessica in the Kitchen recently posted…Black Bean Salsa

This frosting is so beautiful, Stacy, and it looks so light and creamy, just as you describe it! The pink champagne reduction sounds amazing, and I have got to try one of your frosting recipes, soon! This looks perfect for Valentines Day. Pinned!Marcie recently posted…Spicy Cheddar Pub Cheese

This buttercream is so beautiful! The natural food coloring you used sounds great, the pink is so pretty and perfect for Valentine’s Day! I love that this isn’t overly sweet too and the pink champagne reduction sounds amazing! Gorgeous job as usual, Stacy 🙂

Wow – am speechless – Stacy, I’ve never had champagne buttercream ever – and I am so fascinated by this frosting using a champagne reduction! Wow! Such a gorgeous color too – I cannot wait to see what treat you use this on!
Happy Monday sweet lady
xxs

Thank you, Maria! As with the palm shortening, you will truly enjoy working with the natural food color pastes by ChefMaster. Hahaha! Yes! When I was in high school and even a bit later, I worked for a wine importer. As soon as my lips had a taste of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, I’ve been a Santa Margherita girl! We always have their Pinot Grigio and/or Prosecco on hand! Thanks for stopping by and I hope your Seahawks repeat this Superbowl! xo

Oh my dear, I could almost take a jump into that big bowl of deliciousness. I’ve been looking for a good frosting for a valentine cupcake, this comes at the right time.
I had the same question as someone earlier had, if I could use it for kids cake. I guess the alcohol does burn off. I am big fan of natural food coloring too.
I can’t wait to see your special beautiful cake. I know for sure it’s going to over the top and gorgeous. Can’t wait.
Hope you had a great Monday sweety. Hugs.Ash-foodfashionparty recently posted…3 Bean Carrot-Spinach Soup (Spicy Indian Style)

You are singing my love song, Stacy! I LOVE champagne and this buttercream is so up my alley!! It is so special for Valentine’s Day! I bet anyone who makes it will be dreaming of it day in and day out! xxJulie @ Table for Two recently posted…Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie

Wow! How unique; I can’t wrap my mind around how epic and *wicked good* a pink champagne buttercream would taste. It looks beautiful and I love the pink coloring from the natural food coloring (:Monica recently posted…Egg Salad-Stuffed Avocados

this is the glossiest butter cream we have met….so beautiful with a hint of pink…we can imagine it will go extremely well with strawberry cupcakes…this is another inspiring and must-try recipe from your kitchen Stacy,thanks so much for sharing 🙂Kumar’s Kitchen recently posted…Our Simple Thursday Kitchen : Soft & Yummy Steamed Sandesh 🙂

That’s one beautiful buttercream, Stacy! Champagne and almond extract together – I am in! Love this gentle pink color and that you were able to capture the beauty of this unusual color on camera. So very pretty.Julia | JuliasAlbum.com recently posted…Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole

I’d love to make this tonight for my mom’s birthday tomorrow. I don’t have time to go to make the 1 hour round trip (to a larger grocery store) to get the ingredients I am missing. Would regular shortening be ok if they dont have organic palm shortening at my small neighborhood grocery store– if not, what else can I do? This looks so amazing and I cannot wait to try it!

Hi there, Shannon! Thank you for writing. How nice of you to bake a cake for your mom’s birthday tomorrow. However, I am sorry to say that there is no real substitute for the palm shortening to yield the exact same results…creamy buttery texture and non-greasiness with such a good emulsion. You can certainly make a buttercream with part butter and part vegetable shortening, such as Crisco® brand, 1:1 in ratio. However, just realize that there will be a slight greasiness to the texture versus a buttery one and not as good of an emulsion. If this does not bother you and you are not that picky, I say go ahead. You will still have a lovely and workable buttercream. 🙂 A tip…if your buttercream seems like it needs to stiffen up a bit or is slightly breaking up, do not add more powdered sugar. Instead, add an extra tablespoon or so of butter or shortening. That should do the trick if you think your buttercream needs a boost. Once again, thank you for writing. I hope that I have answered your question thoroughly. Happy baking and let me know how your buttercream turns out!

Thank you so much for the info! I went ahead and used crisco. If you wouldn’t have told me, I probably would not have even noticed the slight greasiness. The buttercream is exactly what I was hoping it would be… and then some (I just love it when things happen like this)!! Thank you for the amazing recipe, and I will definitely be using it in the future :).

Hi Stacy, I have made this buttercream 3 times now for a pink champagne cake and has always been a treat. I love that it has a tantalising tang and not too sweet. Am I able to freeze some I have left over and for about how long.
Thankyou again for a great buttercream
Regards Marion

Thank you, kindly, Marion! I am thrilled to know that you appreciate this fabulous Pink Champagne Buttercream like I do. 🙂 It’s a dream! As for your question, I cannot speak from experience because I have not tried freezing this particular buttercream, then thawing it in the fridge and then using it to frost a cake (or cupcakes) or even to pipe decorations. As soon as I do, I will update the recipe in the Notes section with some helpful tips as I often do with my recipes. As for other buttercream frostings, without the added liquid (as this one has), I have certainly frozen them and then thawed in the fridge. In those cases, I always reheat to spreading consistency after coming to room temperature. If you try freezing this buttercream for later use, please let me know how it works out for you. Thank you for taking the time to write and share your experience with this recipe as well as asking such an important question. Meanwhile, warmest wishes for a wonderful autumn and holiday baking season!

Hi there, Amanda! Thank you for writing with such a great question. My sincere apologies as I noticed that I had inadvertently missed adding the Tips in the Notes section of this recipe and only included the variations. I hate when that happens, but the recipe has been updated to include the helpful Tips for handling this particular type of buttercream recipe. To answer your questions, a) this is not the type of buttercream that crusts (even though all buttercreams can dry out and create a little crusting over time when left uncovered at room temperature) and b) you do not need to keep the buttercream refrigerated once frosted onto cakes and cupcakes. Just read over the tips to understand this better because if you will be storing the buttercream longer, before frosting cakes and cupcakes, you will definitely need to refrigerate it. Thanks again for stopping by and for bringing my oversight to my attention. 🙂 Happy baking and buttercream making, Amanda! You and the guests at the engagement party will love this special buttercream!

This buttercream was fantastic on the cupcakes that I made for an engagement party! I wanted to include a picture in here, but I don’t see a way to do it.

Rosesays

Okay, this buttercream looks amazing and I’ve tried making it twice now, but both times were total fails. The first time, there was too much champagne so it ended up being super runny. The second time, though, I measured the reduction to exactly 1/2 cup and while it was a little bit thicker, it was in no way thick enough to be a buttercream, more of a batter.

What am I doing wrong? Because I’m following the measurements to a T but it seems like there’s too much champagne? The texture is definitely not that of a sugar slurry after adding the reduction.

I was really hoping to use this buttercream to top some strawberry cupcakes for a party. I’ll probably end up using a recipe that doesn’t call for a reduction, but for the sake of my sanity I just really need to know where I went wrong.

Hi there, Rose! First, I am so sorry that you experienced trouble with this tried and true recipe. It is indeed a buttercream that is “billowy” and “light”. Please know that several things could be at play resulting in a recipe fail with this recipe. Second, I am glad that you were able to determine why the first attempt was a failure due to adding too much champagne reduction (liquid). However, if your measurements for the second attempt were dead-on accurate, the trouble must be either changes to the ingredients themselves, a change in the the method used or very warm weather that can cause buttercream frostings to break down. Please let me know if you made any changes or substitutions to the ingredients or the method and if you were working in a very warm kitchen. Once I can determine the cause of your trouble, I can focus in on troubleshooting for a solution. Thanks again for writing and I hope to hear from you soon, Rose! ~Stacy

Dear Stacy, I love that your recipe uses champagne! However, reducing it will cause the alcohol taste to disappear, and adding more champagne will cause the buttercream to be too runny.. Do you have any advise on how to have a stable frosting but with more champagne taste? Thank you!

Hi there, Michelle! Thank you for writing with such a good question. Here’s the thing… The alcohol taste may disappear, but the flavor of the champagne still shines through due to the reduction. If you want to use the champagne straight, without reducing it, just simply substitute the 1/2 cup of champagne reduction for 1/2 cup champagne. Meanwhile, there are some artificial champagne flavorings that can be used or even some that say they are natural but contain propylene glycol (of which I am allergic to). However, I always opt for all-natural and pure flavorings and extracts. Thanks again for writing and I hope that I have answered your question thoroughly and completely. Happy baking and happy holidays!

Welcome to My Kitchen

My name is Stacy. I'm a recipe developer, food writer, baker and member of the IACP. I love to concoct tasty baked creations to share with others—both traditional and gluten-free. Welcome to my Wicked Good Kitchen!